U.S. and Canada announce common goals on climate, energy and Arctic

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (left) and
 President Barack Obama get together on many
 things, from climate to caring for the Arctic.

The United States and Canada have not only declared a ceasefire in their intermittent border wars over energy and environmental policies, they have also forged a new alliance for a longer fight that lies ahead.

Meeting in Washington, President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a far-reaching declaration of common interests that included action on the Paris climate agreement, new standards for developing and protecting the Arctic, and common targets for controlling methane leaks from oil and gas production.

Most significantly, both nations committed to control emissions of methane from oil and natural gas wells, pipelines and storage sites. The goal is to reduce these emissions by 40 to 45 percent in about a decade. The U.S. has already proposed steps to rein in pollution from new facilities, but now will target existing production infrastructure—and so will Canada.

Read the Inside Climate News story - “Sea Change: U.S. and Canada Announce Common Goals on Climate, Energy and the Arctic.”

Rising emissions make Paris promises little more than rhetoric

New data this week showing how little progress the United States has made in cutting greenhouse gas emissions since President Obama took office is the latest evidence to undercut the pledges the United States made in negotiating the Paris climate treaty.

The Clean Power Plan's crackdown on coal-fired power plants is on hold, thanks to the Supreme Court. Methane emissions are turning out to be higher than previously thought, as natural gas booms. People are buying more gas-guzzling cars, thanks to low prices at the pump.

Read the Inside Climate News story - “Rising U.S. Emissions Make Paris Promises Elusive.”

(The outcome of events in Paris last December was, according to some, a wonderful success and greeted with much whooping and hollering, but I can’t help but wonder whether or not we were simply swept up in to excitement and rhetoric of the moment.

Subsequently we were blinded to the very real hard work demanded of achieving the nearly impossible goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees.

Obviously, I’m not privy to the inner-workings of the world’s decision makers, but looking on from afar, it appears the wheels on the global warming mitigation wagon have already come lose and at least one if close to falling off – Robert McLean).

Warming temperatures threaten many species, including humans

Warming temperatures, rising seas, ocean acidification, changes to regional weather patterns—nearly every consequence of climate change threatens the world's 8.7 million species in some way.

About half of flora and fauna are already on the move in search of cooler climes. Even keeping global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius—the target for international climate treaty talks—will force many species to the brink of extinction, threatening food supplies, human health, economies and communities. Here is a rundown of just how big an impact climate change could have on the natural world.

Read Katherine Bagley and Paul Horn’s story on Inside Climate News – “Climate Talks: What's at Stake for the World's Species.”

Methane 'leaks' its way into the media's headlines

Scientists made significant progress in 2015 measuring methane emissions from the natural gas industry, continuing a years-long quest to quantify the industry's contribution to climate change. What they found adds to a growing body of evidence that methane leaks are sporadic, difficult to predict, and often far larger than existing government estimates.

Many of the studies came from the Environmental Defense Fund's $18 million project. Launched in 2011, it aims to measure emissions from every sector of the industry, including production, storage, transmission and natural gas vehicles. The project has drawn praise for its scope, vision and scrupulous methods. It's also been criticized for accepting industry funding and sometimes relying on collaboration with oil and gas operators to obtain measurements.

Read the Inside Climate News story - “2015: The Year Methane Leaked into the Headlines.”

Swift transformation away from fossil fuels at the crux of Paris talks

PARIS—The crux of the Paris climate talks is as simple as this: to ultimately succeed, they must set in motion a swift transformation of the global energy economy away from fossil fuels and toward clean power.

That tipping point presents substantial opportunities, but also ominous risks in the world of finance.

To help the financial industry get prepared, the Financial Stability Board, an international body that coordinates the work of regulators and central banks around the world, is setting up an industry-led task force on the disclosure of climate-related financial risks.

Read the Inside Climate News - “Financial Industry Faces Daunting Transformation for Climate Deal to Succeed.”

Inadequate pledges for Paris - planet doesn't stand a chance

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f the climate pledges countries have submitted are any indication of whether the world can save itself with a global climate treaty, the planet doesn’t stand a chance.

More than 140 countries have submitted plans to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on how they will reduce carbon dioxide emissions to fight climate change. These countries account for about 90 percent of global emissions. They form the basis for final treaty negotiations that will take place in Paris in December.

Read the Inside Climate News story - “Climate Treaty Forecast: Cloudy With a Chance of Disaster”.

ExxonMobil may face renewed legal climate challenges

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xxonMobil may face renewed legal challenges from plaintiffs claiming that it should have acted to address the risks of climate change, based on new evidence that its own researchers warned management about the emerging threat decades ago.

In an online petition drive, in public statements and behind the scenes, environmental advocates and their political allies are pressing federal and state authorities to launch investigations, subpoenas or prosecutions to pin down what Exxon knew and when. The oil giant's critics say Exxon might be held liable either for failing to disclose the risks to shareholders and financial regulators, or for manufacturing doubt to deceive people about the science of climate change.

Read the Inside Climate News story - “ExxonMobil Faces Heightened Risk of Climate Litigation, Its Critics Say.”

 

(Any conversation aimed at preserving the global weather conditions which have allowed humanity to thrive is destined to become a little dirty. The “business-as-usual brigade” appears blinded by its sumptuous life-style and will not let go of it without a significant struggle.

Sadly, good sense and reason appears to have little relevance and so it seems that troupe will only respond to actions integral to the machinations of their world, suggesting that legal action aimed at protecting the earth’s “Goldilocks-like conditions” might be the only venue open to those of us worried about humanity’s savaging of the earth – Robert McLean).

Facts are facts, but bombing people with them is rarely useful

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vidence illustrates that bombing people with facts about climate change rarely has any useful outcome.

Climate scientist, Ricarda Winkelmann,
from Germany's Potsdam Institute.

However, as frightening as the facts might be we have to incorporate them into our thinking and somewhere find the emotional and intellectual resource to get beyond being frozen into inaction and act to play our part, no matter how small, in making our communities more resilient.

The world’s fossil fuel companies seem intent on burning all the resources they have and a team of climate scientists, as intrigued as anyone else, considered the “worst case scenario” for the world if that was to happen.

A climate scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany and the lead author of the study, Ricarda Winkelmann, said: “"We usually think about our generation, maybe the next generation. It is hard for people to think of Earth a thousand years in the future. But what we are doing right now, the CO2 we are emitting into the atmosphere, could change the face of our planet a thousand years from now."

Read the Inside Climate News story - “Climate Change’s Worst-Case Scenario: 200 Feet of Sea Level Rise”.

Extreme to piddling proposals no value unless we reduce our emissions

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roposals ranging from extreme to piddling in impact will be of no consequence unless we substantially reduce our carbon dioxide emissions.

Inside Climate News reports: ”Waiting to tackle ocean acidification caused by climate change through yet-to-be developed geoengineering schemes will be too little too late to prevent mass extinction of ocean life, a new study concludes.

“Cutting carbon emissions is the only way for oceans to recover from the devastating effects of climate change, according to the new research published in Nature Climate Change.”

Read the story - “Geoengineering Will Not Save Ocean Life from Acidification, Research Says”.

Scientists baulk, but 'fingerprints' give the game away

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cientists have long baulked at attributing natural disasters directly to climate change.

Katherine Bagley -
fingerprints of climate change.

However, as Katherine Bagley writes on InsideClimate News, extreme heat in India, flooding in Houston, wildfires in Alberta suggest a new normal, made more chaotic by global warming.

“Communities across the globe got a sobering snapshot this week of what the future is likely to hold more of: extreme weather getting even more extreme thanks to climate change,” she writes.

“Historic rainfall and flooding in Texas and Oklahoma left thousands homeless and dozens of people dead. India is in the midst of a prolonged heat wave that has already claimed more than 1,800 lives.  Wildfires in Alberta consumed hundreds of square miles of forest while creeping closer to Canada's tar sands, shutting down production of the carbon-intense fossil fuel.

“More natural disasters may be on the way. Firefighters across the American West are bracing for a record-breaking wildfire season due to sustained drought. Federal scientists predicted  Wednesday that once the U.S. hurricane season begins June 1, the East Coast could see as many as 11 named storms out of the Atlantic Ocean, including two hurricanes rated in the major categories, 3-5. Sea levels, rising as the globe warms, could increase the amount of damage from even smaller storms.”

Bagley’s story - “Weather Extremes Wear Climate Change's Fingerprints” – provides a roundup of what the latest science says about climate change and extreme weather.

Many have edited climate change out of their lives

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any around the world, and in Australia, have either mentally or physically edited climate change out of their lives.

Nice idea, but it simply won’t work as nature is bigger than us, either individually or as a group, and if we continue to behave in our destructive manner, it will respond correspondingly.

The idea that we edit our lives, or those of others, was in the recent Earth Day reinforced by U.S. President, Barack Obama.

He said: “Climate change "can't be edited out," Obama said: "It can no longer be omitted from the conversation, and action can no longer be delayed."

Read the story here: “Obama: Climate Change 'Can't Be Edited Out'”.

Australia among the 'spoilers' at Lima

Australia has been listed among the “spoilers” at the Lima climate change discussions.

Being rich in fossil fuels, in Australia’s case it is coal and gas, we could stand with OPEC nations, Russia and Canada as countries that would block efforts to reduce world demand for oil, gas and coal.

Inside Climate News has made these observations in a story headed: “A Guide to the Lima Climate Change Talks”.

Invest now, save exorbitant costs later

The idea that the world invests now to save exorbitant costs later is as sound as the science that encourages it.

However, the call for cash contributions from the world’s developed countries as meet with a less than enthusiastic response.

Inside Climate News discusses the conundrum with the idea with some seeing the response as impressive and others declaring it to be quite the reverse.

The dilemma is discussed, and graphed, on the story headed: “The Climate-Change Finance Gap at a Glance”.

Danger awaits those who deny climate change

It will soon be politically dangerous to deny the existence of climate change, according to U.S. Treaty Envoy, Todd Stern.

Inside Climate News reports that “Climate change denial will switch from being a litmus test for major Republican politicians to a liability in the near future.”

The story, headed: “Will Climate Change Denial Become a Political Liability? U.S. Treaty Envoy Thinks So”, reports on the hypothesis of the United States envoy on climate change, Todd Stern.

U.S. Envoy for Climate
Change, Todd Stern.

Stern said that mounting public pressure would eventually force American politicians' hand on global warming.

The People's Climate March in New York City last month, he noted, was a start. Hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets of Manhattan calling for action—any action—on climate change.

The event took place 48 hours before world leaders, including Stern, gathered at the United Nations to lay the groundwork for climate treaty talks.